By Jan Penton Miller
Columnist
You’ve got to be kidding!
No ma’am. You need to come in, and let’s get this taken care of.
When I went to the dermatologist for wrinkle cream and decided to get my yearly
skin check I thought it would be strictly routine. I was surprised when she found a
spot to biopsy and more surprised still when the results showed skin cancer.
It wasn’t yet serious, and I left the office after having the procedure feeling good
that all was well. All was well, that is, until the next day when I got a look at the scar.
What I thought would be a nice, neat little character scar looked more like
something from a horror movie, to me at least. I gave into tears and cried until my
face was red and my eyes looked like someone had punched me. Then, I just got
plain mad!
It has been two weeks, and I get the stitches out today. Several mornings I woke
up thinking of what I was going to say to my surgeon. I had it all planned out, and it
was going to be as ugly as my arm.
Needless to say, I was feeling passionate about what I considered to be a pretty
messy mess. I prayed for guidance as I ranted in my head about how unfair this
whole thing was. I really tried to have a better attitude, but the poor me pity party
was on!
This morning my Bible reading was about how to act during trials. The part about
being swift to hear and slow to speak and get angry was just in time for my
appointment today.
While I was dealing with the medical stuff I also discovered a rental property had
termite damage so I was discouraged about that, as well. Things seemed to be piling
up, and I didn’t feel quite up to the challenge; thus the anger and tears.
I met someone from my pest control company to check things out while the
repairs at the property were being made. The damage was pretty extensive, and the
young man took a lot of time to inspect the area and give me his plans on how to
ensure we won’t have more problems.

Thankfully, what appeared to be active termites were actually ants moved into the damaged
wood.
We talked for a while, and I mentioned that I could tell from his demeanor that he
was a Christian. I told him I was praying that the back of the house would not show
any more damage, and that I was trying to have a positive attitude.
The young man said, “You know I’ve heard that it’s not just about waiting for the storm to pass,
but it’s about learning to dance in the rain. I’ll be praying with you about your house.”
I smiled big because this has been my mantra through tough times over the years.
This young man didn’t know that, but God did.